by Glenys Taylor | Aug 11, 2013 | Event Reports
CHB certainly turned it on, talking about the weather of course. But not as you would think for the sunny Hawkes Bay. They turned the rain on, so anyone who enjoyed racing in the rain would have been in their element. There was no wind to speak of, or at least that is how it appeared for those of us who remained dry at the registration point.
A small turnout of BM riders certainly let CHB know that there are some good riders in the neighbouring province and watch out when we have a bigger turnout for hopefully the second event in the series.
All riders were to complete 2 laps of the circuit with A & B grade being combined along with C & D grade. The first riders for the A grade race came through the start/finish line for the first time around 43mins.
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by Glenys Taylor | Jul 28, 2013 | Event Reports
And the weather once again was perfect for a club race which saw the largest field of riders for a long time at a club event.
The atmosphere in Halcombe was just buzzing as not only was there a local rugby fixture on but also the Moa Harriers had a relay event that started and finished at Halcombe. The population of Halcombe at 3pm was probably around 4 times the normal population.
Special thanks to our helpers on the day – Steve Challies did a great job as race manager. Our marshals included visitor from Auckland Trish Harvey along with Rebecca Allan, Katherine Stannard and John Stewart.
Although there was a chance of close interaction between runners and cyclists ( and 1 dog) there were no eventualities and it was surprising to see that many of the runners are also cyclists and maybe we can convince them to join us for a club race when they are not running.
Part of the large field included the juniors (and some parents) that were attending the 5 day development camp at Massey University. The juniors have been doing some great rides including at flat ride to Ohakea on Thursday and a hilly ride over the track and Saddle on Friday. After biking out from Palmy they were faced with either a 60km race for the boys and a 40km race for the girls. Then they turned around and biked back to Palmy. I am sure they all enjoyed the rest of their stay in the Manawatu.
Results for Grades A, B and C
Results for D grade
Next weeks race is again at Halcombe. Registration is at the Halcombe Rugby Club from 12.30pm. Wanganui will again be doing the timing for this event so to avoid the congestion at registration please ensure that you register online before Friday.
by Vaughan Hunt | Jul 2, 2013 | Event Reports
This is the 3rd year Manawatu Schools Cycling Champs have been held in Ashhurst township and we saw another very successful day of cycle racing.
We had a great turn out of riders this year with 86 entries and the largest field of Intermediate aged school riders the champs have had to date. We also had over a dozen riders from outside the Manawatu area come and compete which gave our riders some extra competition.
Three races were held throughout the day…the first a Hill Climb ITT, followed by a Flat ITT, and lastly a Criterium.
For our newer riders this was their first time racing in a competitive cycling event and they all did themselves proud. To do 3 cycling events in one day isn’t easy and they all gave it their best.
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by Vaughan Hunt | Jun 7, 2013 | Event Reports
June 1, 2 and 3 2013
The traditionally appalling weather failed to materialize for the Tour of Taranaki this year – although it made a valiant attempt on Saturday, hiding the mountain in clouds and rainbows and washing our bikes clean of cow dung. However, clear skies on Sunday and Monday meant that it was Bike Manawatu riders who made hay while the sun shone in the Naki over the June long weekend.
In a strong A Grade field Luke Mudgway should have succeeded in his mission to impress the U19 Bike NZ selectors with a strong tour, culminating in a decisive four-man break on the final stage. Luke finished third on GC behind hard man, Gordon MacCauley, and Morgan Smith, ahead of many more fancied (and experienced) riders. George Roberts started the race, but withdrew due to illness.
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by Vaughan Hunt | Apr 18, 2013 | Event Reports
With the end of daylight savings and Club Road Nationals next week this was set to be the last club race for the summer season.
With a tough challenging course set to test the legs of those going to Queenstown next week and the sky full of grey gloomy clouds it was anybody’s guess what the finish order was going to be.
The train schedule had been checked and with a number of trains due through Halcombe it was decided to run a figure 8 course with each part of the “8” counting as a lap.
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